I learned of the death of our longtime neighbor and friend Betty Fell the Thursday before the start of her beloved Long Island weekend of springtime shows. Mr. and Mrs. Philip S.P. Fell (Mr. Fell, to those close to him, was called “Tiny”) and their Badgewood Kennels truly represented an era long past in the dog world. Mrs. Fell was 88, and for the last several years lived in an assisted living home near one of her daughters in the Mendham area of New Jersey. The Fells had three other children, none of whom shared their parents’ passion for dogs. Indeed, at their wedding one of the Badgewood Sealys accompanied the Fells down the aisle. Mrs. Fell's stepfather was James Austin, who owned the famous Nornay Saddler Smooth Fox Terrier, and her uncle on her mother's side, the internationally acclaimed horse painter J.B. Nofs, painted the famous Saddler Seven portrait of Saddler with his seven get. This was one of the few independent dog paintings he ever did. In their Oyster Bay Cove home, over the fireplace, was a portrait of Mrs. Fell on horseback, painted by her uncle as well. Indeed, Mr. Fell was a polo player of repute and was intimately involved with the development of the Morningside Project at Columbia during WWII. Mrs. Fell's mother was originally Mrs. West and eventually married to become Mrs. Austin. She, of course, was the very famous originator of the Catawaba Pekingese Kennels. Much of this historical information came from Jack Simms, who was their handler for the last 10 years they showed dogs. Usually Mrs. Fell would be found in the ring, showing both her Whippets and Norfolks and Norwich.
As well as I knew Mrs. Fell and as often as she came to our home, I never called her anything but Mrs. Fell. One evening, at a New Year's Eve Party at our house, she said to me, as I was pouring her favorite scotch into a glass, “When are you going to call me Betty?” I replied, “Never,” and I never did. She always was and always will be to me Mrs. Fell. And I'll tell you one thing, she either liked you or did not, and she let you know immediately what her feelings about you were. Years ago, a now-retired field rep who was fairly new to the job was watching Mrs. Fell judge. He thought she was taking too long and went into her ring to tell her so. Come Monday morning, he was called into Mr. Brumby's (Jr.) office—Mr. Brumby Sr., of course, having handled Saddler—and told to cease and desist in that particular instance. This person was never forgiven for that transgression, I can assure you of that!
Mr. Fell's job eventually took them to England, where they lived most graciously, and this is where their line of Norfolks was truly developed. She brought one bitch over with her which was cleverly used to sire both Nanfan and Coco's lines, producing some of her top winners when they returned to the States. They initially moved to Rhode Island from England to the home of Ogden Mills, who was Mr. Fell's stepfather, but quickly left and moved back to Oyster Bay, where they had lived for a short time before. Once again, Mr. Fell's job took him first to California and then to England. Obviously much of this history came from Jack, to whom we all owe a thank you.
Years ago, and still in this historical type mode, I remember having a conversation with Mr. Brumby—Len Jr.—about the need to record this type information about people who have contributed so mightily to the sport and upon whom many of the great traditions of our showing dogs are built. He totally agreed, but in fact nothing really has been undertaken by AKC to sustain such a project. Perhaps a special department should be established devoted to just such a thing because, let's face it, as each of us leave the mortal world, unless our knowledge and recollections are recorded, this kind of information will be lost forever. True, there are now Web sites on the Internet which help to serve these purposes but with old timers such as the Fells and myriad others, their places in our family of dogs are lost forever.
Someone came up to me at a show recently and asked me why a certain dog was shown at a show where it was beaten by the judge before, and it was pretty apparent it would be beaten again. I said it had not been shown but was entered. The person then said that INFODOG had listed the dog as being present! My reaction was, “you mean you sit and search the Internet to see which dog was shown or was absent?” I mean really, "get a life" was my thinking. Read a book, go to a movie or even the library or a museum. How all-encompassing do people think dog shows are? By the way, INFODOG had fouled up—not the judge—and the result was corrected. That's not the point, though, is it! •
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